Are marketers doing too much?

Hey,

Do you remember the elusive North American Canadian House Hippo? You know, the pocket-size hippo that lives in every home and comes out at night to search for leftover peanut butter toast crumbs?

This adorable icon and legend.

It was one of the brilliant PSAs from the late 90s—an early lesson in media literacy from Concerned Children’s Advertisers. A great Canadian inside jokes that still confuses Americans online.

Most millennials remember it, which is a testament to how effective the ad was—because it nailed a simple but powerful formula:

1. Clever and familiar storytelling.
   
   
2. Whimsical and attention-grabbing visuals.
   
   
3. Emotional connection to the adorable tiny hippo.
   
   
4. A memorable hook and twist.
   
   
5. The single message: Don’t believe everything you see on TV.

Fast-forward 26 years, and we’re in a completely different ad landscape. Today we’re exposed to anywhere between 4,000 and 10,000 ads per day. For the most part, we’ve been trained to tune most of them out—all but maybe ~80 on any given day.

Ad fatigue is real, and attention spans are shorter than ever.

For marketers, this makes our jobs harder. There’s pressure to pack as much value into every ad as possible, and to churn out endless variations—especially now that AI can generate hundreds of slop ads in minutes. We’re in a volume panic.

The truth is, however, that very few ads stick. Because it’s not just about being seen. It’s about being remembered.

The data backs this up, too. A study from Kantar Millward Brown showed that advertisements with a single focused message are most effective, and each additional message provided significantly loses power and attention.

Which is why we need to stop trying to communicate every possible message and get back to the basics.

That’s why, in the Growclass conversion copywriting module, we teach: Keep it simple (and kinda stupid). Paid ads only get a few milliseconds before someone swipes away. Great copy feels almost too simple—but that’s the point.

So if you’re crafting paid ad messaging, steal this framework:

1. List all the key messages about your product.
   
   
2. Use customer data (interviews, reviews) to rank what matters most.
   
   
3. Cut what they don’t care about—even if it hurts.
   
   
4. Make sure a sixth grader could understand it.
   
   
5. Build your ad around that one message.
   
   
6. Test it.

That’s it. That’s the ad.

“But what if I have more to say?” Save it for the landing page.

An ad’s job is to spark interest. The landing page’s job is to explain, persuade, and close the loop.

Capiche?

Until next time,

Ines

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